Monday, November 18, 2013

Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000.

Section
202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is
set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based
preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%,
or 7,320.

For fiscal year 2013 (which ended on September 2013), family based categories were allotted a quota of 226,000. However due to lower demand and also delay in moving dates forward, around 10,000 visas were unused in the family based category.

According to law,
any unused visas from family category will flow to employment based
category. This means EB category will be getting an additional 10,000
visas in fiscal year 2014 (October 2013 to September 2014).

Currently according to demand data, the annual limit is set at 148,000 (instead of usual 140,000). However according to
Annual Numerical Limits for Fiscal Year 2014, the limit is set at 150,000 for EB categories. Since the annual numerical limit document is more recent, we will assume that the spillover is 10,000 (instead of 8,000).

Friday, November 15, 2013

Charles Oppenheim met with several lawyers from American Immigration
Lawyers Association (AILA) on October 23, 2013. In this meeting he gave his prediction for visa bulletin movement for fiscal year 2014.

Charles Oppenheim explained that the demand for visa numbers is greater because of multiple
dependents being added (many primary
beneficiaries have married and have children). For example,
approximately 45% of the visa numbers are used by the primary
beneficiaries with the remaining 55% taken up by derivative
beneficiaries (spouses and children).

He also explained that the number of EB3 to EB2 porting cases is very
significant and because the mechanics of the EB3 to EB2 porting system
does not allow advance notification to the Department of State’s Visa
Office. This causes a significant number of EB3 to EB2 porting cases
to appear without advance warning to the Visa Office and, as a
result, the Visa Office has to hold cutoff dates back to accommodate
such porting case.

As an example, Mr. Oppenheim cited that between
October 1 and October 22nd his office noted that there were around 820 Indian nationals who ported from EB3 to EB2. In addition to EB3 to EB2
porting cases for Indian nationals, who are the majority of such cases,
he sees an increasing number of EB3 to EB2 porting cases from ROW category.

Mr. Oppenheim suggested that the EB1 and EB5 categories are
relatively popular this year and expects more numbers to be used in
these categories, compared to the past years. He cited EB5 China
category where the demand has been growing steadily (approximately 15%
over the year before) and that a cutoff date for EB5 China is possible
later this fiscal year (possibly around June 2014).

This high demand
also means that there will be less spillovers to other categories such as EB2 India and China which would
further contribute to the slow forward movement in these categories.

Mr. Oppenheim shared that his goal is to
advance the cutoff dates more at the beginning of the fiscal year
(October, November and December, and January visa bulletins) and then,
as he is able to gauge demand for a particular preference category,
adjust accordingly by either slowing down or retrogressing (if demand
is high) or advancing even more (is demand turns out to be low).

Visa Bulletin Predictions – Employment-Based

EB1: This category is expected to remain current throughout the fiscal year.

EB2 ROW: This category is expected to remain
current throughout the fiscal year; however, depending on demand he may introduce a cutoff date towards the end
of the fiscal year.

EB2 China: This category is expected to continue to move forward by approximately 3-5 weeks per month in each Visa Bulletin.

EB2 India: EB2
India is expected to retrogress significantly by few years and remain at that date until the summer of 2014.
The rationale behind this severe retrogression in EB-2 India is that
there is simply too much demand in
this category and the Visa Office has to stop the rate of new filings
until USCIS and DOS are able to approve the pending case.

EB3 ROW, Mexico and China: This category is expected to move forward significantly over the next one or two months to stimulate demand for the next several months.

Unused F4 numbers can “fall-up” to F1. This potential is taken into consideration when setting the
monthly/annual targets for number use. Those targets are established based on the historical and current
patterns of number use, and are adjusted as necessary.

EB1: All
EB1 categories are current and should continue to
remain current for fiscal year Demand is
increasing at rate of around 1000-1200 every month.

EB2 ROW: This
category continues to remain current. Demand in EB2ROW is very low at an average of around 300 per month. This is good news
for EB2 India and China, as they could get a higher spillovers in FY
2014 compared to FY 2013.

EB2 China: As expected, EB2 China also moved forward by 4 weeks. It should continue to move forward around 3 to 5 weeks per month. It will still be behind EB3 China which is ahead by nearly 3 years.

EB2 India: As we had mentioned earlier, there was huge retrogression in EB2 India due to large amount of porting from EB3 India to EB2 India. We will be adding a new blog exclusive to EB2 India movement in fiscal year 2014. Till then, please see this blog post for updates in EB2 (India, ROW and China) category.

Note: The November EB2 India demand data does not have demand break down from year
2005 to 2008. It only says that the demand prior to Jan 2009 is 9,000.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Update: Department of State (DOS) did not publish the December 2013 Demand Data. This is not unusual when there is large (forward or retrogression) movement in dates.

Demand data is used by DOS to calculate the monthly visa
bulletin dates. If you are not familiar with demand data, please see
this article: What is Demand Data?

There should not be any major changes in the December 2013 Demand Data.

EB2 India: EB2
India is expected to retrogress by more than three years in December VB. The porting from EB3 India is using up all available quota available to EB2 India (which is around 2,802 visas per year). Please see article.

Hopefully DOS decides to break down demand in EB2 categories from 2004 to 2013. Currently it only shows cumulative data prior to 2009.

EB3 ROW: The demand in EB3 ROW and Mexico is much lower. This will likely result in these two categories by move forward by 8-12 months. It should also continue to move forward by few months.

Friday, November 1, 2013

New USCIS Website: As we had posted earlier on Facebook and Twitter, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the launch of the agency’s redesigned website
available in both English and Spanish. The redesigned website provides customers with a simplified and more user-friendly experience.

“This redesign demonstrates our ongoing commitment to improving the quality of service we provide,” said USCIS Director Alejandro
Mayorkas. “Throughout the past year, we have evaluated traffic on the website and listened to valuable feedback from users. Today’s
launch is the result of that effort and we are confident the public will find an improved online experience.”

The USCIS website incorporates current best practices while introducing a new content management system that will improve
functionality and allow for continued enhancements. Some of the improvements to the new website include better navigation menus, a
tools section that helps customers complete common electronic transactions, and a more prominent search bar that produces improved
results.

The home page also displays a more prominent rotating banner that highlights timely information and introduces alerts that provide
important news and other customer notifications at-a-glance. In response to stakeholder feedback, USCIS has also streamlined the
change of address online tool to provide an easier, more efficient process for customers.

The new and improved USCIS website is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Web strategy to use a common content
management system and consolidate the Department’s public websites. The agency plans further enhancements in the coming months.

USCIS first redesigned its website in September 2009, fulfilling the Obama administration’s commitment to offer enhanced navigation
tools for the public to access immigration information and review case status.

Infosys, the giant Indian technology outsourcing company, has agreed to
pay $34 million in a civil settlement. After an investigation of more than two years, prosecutors on Wednesday
will unveil the settlement as well as its accusations that Infosys
“knowingly and unlawfully” brought Indian workers into the United States
on business visitor visas since 2008, which avoided the higher costs
and delays of a longer-term employment visa the workers should have had.

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